Meanwhile, in reality-land

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Matthew Mount said the robber, brandishing a handgun, corralled all the customers into one part of the store. When the robber pointed the gun at a woman and her child, an employee shot him. The man was taken to Wishard Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

I will follow this story pretty closely for any updates and further information; however initially it sounds like it was a good shoot under Indiana state law, which specifies that deadly force can be used to protect your life or the lives of others. Here’s the relevant state statute:

A person is justified in using reasonable force against another person to protect the person or a third person from what the person reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person:

(1) is justified in using deadly force; and

(2) does not have a duty to retreat;

if the person reasonably believes that that force is necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to the person or a third person or the commission of a forcible felony. No person in this state shall be placed in legal jeopardy of any kind whatsoever for protecting the person or a third person by reasonable means necessary.

I would say that when an armed robber has cornered you and a group of people, and is now pointing his gun at a person, that’s grounds to “reasonbly believe” that force “is necessary”.

I hope the facts are as they have been reported; it sounds like the employee saved a life. At any rate, I hope he doesn’t face prosecution. There’s still some truth to “better judged by 12 than carried by 6.”